Canadian Wildlife Federation: All About Amphibians and Reptiles

Canadian Wildlife Federation: All About Amphibians and Reptiles:

A wet ‘n’ wild welcome

To attract amphibians and reptiles to your backyard consider the following tips:

• Amphibians require moisture, so building a pond is the best way to invite them to make your backyard home.
• Ensure that your pond does not have steep edges so amphibians and reptiles can get out, or provide logs to allow them to do so.
• Remember that some frogs overwinter under water and so require a permanent pond with a depth of at least 2 metres.
• Toads overwinter on land and only require shallow, temporary ponds (or the shallow areas of larger ponds) for breeding.
• Plant some emergent vegetation, native to your area, around the edges of your pond to provide cover for frogs and toads. Check out local wetlands for ideas on what types of vegetation you should plant.
• If you live on a shoreline, remember that aquatic and shoreline plants are important to reptiles and amphibians for nesting, food, and shelter. Plants also support the insects that are important in their diet. Logs, rocks, and other natural shoreline features are used for shelter and nesting and as basking sites. So maintain or restore natural shoreline areas.
• Reptiles like a warm, sunny environment, with lots of places to hide. Provide some rock piles and logs around the pond and garden to offer these creatures shelter and protection from predators. Put some of the rock piles in sunny areas to provide a place for basking in the sun.
• Allow some areas of your garden to go a bit wild, providing damp and shady areas for reptiles to cool off in the hot summer months.
• Create a toad abode to shelter toads and place it in a cool, shady part of your garden.
• Build a snake den for hibernating snakes so they can overwinter in comfort.
• Snakes often return to the same hibernation site year after year. Protect existing hibernation sites. Rocky outcrops, talus slopes, or rock crevices that allow snakes access to shelter below the frost line are all great sites.
• Do not purchase or move frogs or toads to your backyard, as they will often die. When you have provided all that a frog or toad could want, be patient and they will come to you.
• Dense foliage close to the ground provides cover for amphibians and reptiles.
• Piles of leaves provide winter cover for some frogs and salamanders.
• Prevent the death of amphibians and reptiles in window wells by placing a log that allows them escape.
• Avoid the use of pesticides.